Wendell Stanley (1904-1971), US biochemist, in his laboratory with tobacco plants. Stanley studied at the University of Illinois, attaining a doctorate in chemistry. He was the first to isolate, crystallise and characterise the tobacco mosaic virus, though some of his conclusions were later shown to be incorrect. In 1949 he discovered that viruses can cause cancer. Stanley shared the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on viruses.